Giant Ginkgo

All of this has come as a surprise to the dessert's inventor, Christopher Sell, a 36-year-old Brit who owns the Park Slope ChipShop in Brooklyn, N.Y.

His fish-and-chips restaurant was already serving up deep-fried Mars, Snickers and other chocolate bars -- treats that originated in Scotland and have since become a staple at U.S. fairgrounds -- when his general manager suggested he toss a Twinkie into the vat of oil. Just to see.

"So we did, and it was good, and we put it on the menu . . . as a joke almost," he said. It might have ended there, except that a New York Times food writer tried one and wrote a positive review last May. Soon, the Food Network and CNBC were calling.

The secret to making a deep-fried Twinkie, he says, is to place it in the fridge first to give it more stability. He then rolls it in flour, covers it with batter -- the same that he uses on fish -- and plunks it into the oil.