MLK and Cookies

It is not commonly known that the great Martin Luther King, Jr. had a ferocious sweet tooth. So in honor of his birthday, I have taken it upon myself to translate the subtext of some of his most powerful words into what I think was really on his mind. As one of this country's finest orators, civil rights leaders and proponents of equality, MLK (like Harvey Milk) was a man on a very sweet mission.

Excerpts of ML King’s “I Have a Dream” speech as reinterpreted by Lentil Breakdown:

“I have a dream today.” I have a craving for chocolate and vanilla.

“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred." Let us drink from a glass of milk while we eat a cookie.

“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.” We won't be satisfied until our sweet tooths, screaming for sugar, can binge from the same cookie jars as Martha Stewart.

“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” but by the ingredients in their baked goods. FYI: my children use 70% Valrhona chocolate and the finest Madagascar vanilla beans.

“I have a dream today." I am dreaming about a fondant frosting of sugar and water that's cooked to the soft-ball stage, cooled slightly, and nonviolently beaten until it is an opaque mass of creamy equality.

“This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country cookie, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing icing.

"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village kitchen and every hamlet oven, from every state bakery and every city coffee house, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children creations,

black men double fudge brownies and white men sugar cookies,

Jews

rugelach and Gentiles

Rice Krispies Treats

, Protestants snickerdoodles and Catholics biscotti, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Special thanks to Hotcakes Bakes for letting me shoot their cookies.