This is for Veg Star’s fantastic graduate students out there, in the middle of another grueling semester.

When a writer at Riverfront Times wanted to conduct a, ahem, “scientific” experiment on vegan goods, she tested the hypothesis that “Vegan baked goods are always readily identifiable as being vegan.”

In other words, this skeptic wanted to prove that vegan desserts are cardboard, pasty, granola pyramids of disaster. Sure hope she didn’t bet her thesis on it.

Materials for vegan chef and author Bryant Terry‘s vegan dessert included a coconut pie crust made from coconut oil in place of butter, a chocolate pecan pudding filling with non-dairy rice milk, maple syrup and arrowroot powder, a fantastic thickener for pies, puddings, gravies and other dishes that doesn’t add fat.

Results: “I don’t understand how that is vegan.” (In non-scientific terms: How the heck does it taste so good?)

Conclusion, experimenter notes and recipe below.

“Conclusion: The hypothesis is rejected. Vegan baked goods can be as good as their animal fat-laden counterparts, if not better…with the possible caveat that some of the ingredients are moderately more difficult to find.”

Some of the experimenter’s notes are that unrefined coconut oil is less pungent, but more expensive. Arrowroot starch can be found in the spice section. Guests turn down more helpings in fear of getting fat because the taste is so good, thus leaving more for experimenter.

Grab the recipe and conduct your own experiment with Bryant Terry’s Chocolate Pecan Pie at Riverfront Times.

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