If it's September in Dallas, the State Fair is just around the corner!  For many Texans, one of the highlights of the fair is the annual Fried Foods competition called the Big Tex Choice Award.  Each year, finalists for the best new fried food are announced and a cook-off is held to decide on that year's winner.  The finalist entries are all available for purchase at food stands during The State Fair of Texas, which runs at Dallas' Fair Park from September 25 to October 18, 2009.

This year's finalists for best new fried food are:

Deep Fried Butter: Sweetened, flavored, whipped butter wrapped in dough and deep-fried.

Green Goblins: Cherry peppers packed with spicy shredded chicken and guacamole, battered and deep fried. Topped with queso.

Twisted Yam On A Stick: Spiral-cut yam fried crispy, rolled in butter, dusted with cinnamon and sugar.

Fernie's Deep Fried Peaches & Cream: Peaches coated with batter and deep fried, sprinkled with streusel and cream. Served with raspberry sauce.

Texas Fried Pecan Pie: Pecan pie battered and deep fried, drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with cream and chopped pecans.

Country Fried Pork Chips: Thin pork loin seasoned, dipped in corn meal and deep fried. Served with ketchup or gravy.

Sweet Jalapeno Corn Dog Shrimp: Shrimp coated with sweet and spicy batter, deep fried and served with spicy glaze.

Fried Peanut Butter Cup Macaroon: Peanut butter cup wrapped in coconut macaroon, fried and dusted with powdered sugar. Ice cream scoop optional.

In previous years, the winners of this competition have included such favorites as Chicken Fried Bacon, the Fried Banana Split and Deep-Fried Twinkies.

I was joking in the title of this post, but with choices like Deep Fried Butter, perhaps a defibrillator really is in order!