Many of Lee Daniels' projects — the movie Precious, the TV shows Empire and Star — tend to be about people who start with everything against them and rise up to do amazing things. (While occasionally killing people along the way, which happens.)

In Empire, Daniels created one of the great TV characters of our time — the ambitious record company matriarch Cookie Lyon — so we'll be quizzing him on actual cookies.

Click the audio link above to see how he does.

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