New way to get fat in Texas: Fried Coke

• Tweet

DALLAS, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A Dallas concessionaire says despite sudden national recognition of his Fried Coke confection, he's improved the batter to hold even more sugar.

Fame came to Abel Gonzales Jr., on Labor Day near Dallas when his concoction won the "most creative" title for his deep-fried Coke batter nuggets topped with cola syrup at the Big Tex Choice Awards Contest at the Texas State Fair. There already are copy-cats hawking the recipe in North Carolina and Arizona.

Gonzales told the Dallas Morning News his brush with fame -- that included an appearance on NBC's "Today" show -- has driven him to take the formula to a higher level of carbohydrates and sugar.

He has since reworked the recipe and ditched the pre-made batter, replacing it with a more spongy consistency batter in order to hold more cola syrup, the newspaper said.

"They were good before, but they are even better now," Gonzales said. "I wanted it to be the best product out there."