Kids Discover Talks About How to Make a Cookbook with Robert Seixas from Delish
- June 9, 2025
- By Alice Knisley Matthias
Kids Discover got the chance to speak with Robert Seixas, Senior Food Director at Delish, to find out the answers to all our questions about how to make a cookbook and who gets to eat all the yummy food made along the way!
How does a cookbook get made?
We are lucky at Delish! We have created so many recipes that are so good.
When we create our recipes and cookbooks, we first look at the approach from a “theme” perspective. What are we trying to say and why? And then we proceed with the “how-to” part of it.
For this book, we wanted to do something different for kids, beyond much of the “kids cooking” template that can be common. We wanted to create recipes that a “kid” may not normally make.
How do you know how to “talk” to kids in a cookbook?
We speak to kids with respect as young adults and chefs. Kids know when you speak down to them.
How do you make the content fun?
We know that keeping kids engaged with certain material can be a challenge. At Delish we are all about fun and playful. It’s part of our DNA. When I met with Joanna Saltz, our Editorial Director, we wanted to not only have fun with the kids – look at how colorfully designed the book is – but we wanted to teach them practical skills. In fact, this book is also perfect for adults!
How do you teach cooking skills in a cookbook?
Early learning sets the stage for how one lives one’s life. In this instance, embedding those techniques into our awesome recipes means calling out those techniques and helping kids with skills that will last a lifetime.
We teach techniques like whisking for a salad dressing where you mix ingredients from side to side in a container. We explain how to fold cream for a dessert or how to adjust heat underneath a pan for cooking.
Knife skills are the most important practice we teach. Safety first!
What makes a recipe?
Each recipe serves a purpose for learning and inspiration for making something that tastes good. All our recipes have art with incredible pictures and at least one essential technique that is crucial to learn.
And of course, we test the recipes. We test the recipes A LOT!
What is recipe “testing?”
Recipe testing is how recipes are put together by our team in the test kitchen to see if all the instructions, steps and ingredients make sense and work together.
Where does the recipe testing happen?
We have a test kitchen at our offices in New York City and it has all the equipment we need to prepare and make all our recipes for the website, our magazines and our cookbooks.
Photo: Daphne Youree
How does your team at Delish test the recipes?
We test recipes together as a team. Everyone has an important job. We evaluate plans, discuss ingredients and techniques for every recipe.
We ask questions about why someone would want to make a recipe, what is the purpose and what kind of recipe do we want to create? And most importantly, we talk about if a home cook (no matter the age) can make or want to make it? Will people respond to it visually? How will it be photographed or filmed for an instruction video?
What happens next?
Then we move into the development phase. It is a myth that the first step is cooking!
We first make a recipe as is. We then evaluate, make some changes and re-evaluate.
We ask questions about what kind of pots and pans get used, how many we need to make the recipe and what tools are needed. We also look to see if there are any shortcuts that can be used and then repeat the whole process again until we are completely happy with the product.
At this point, we are ready to open it up to tasting with a larger group.
What about the pictures of all the delicious food?
The photos of food that Delish shows in cookbooks, magazines and websites are done by some of the best photographers in the country!
We also have unbelievable stylists who make the food in the photos look good under the guidance of our visual and creative directors. I also chime in every now and then (to everyone’s annoyance!) “Please move that forgotten-looking breadcrumb a ¼ mm to the right.” That kind of stuff.
Are you ready to get cooking?
Try this recipe in The How-To Cookbook for Young Foodies from our friends at Delish for a combination of everything we love about mac and cheese and a taste of pizza!
PHOTO: Rachel Vanni; FOOD STYLING: Brooke Caison
Mac & Cheese Pizza Bites
Pizza, pasta or both? Both, please! Creamy mac, pepperoni, and plenty of Parmesan combine to create a bite sized snack that we can’t stop eating.
Total Time: 1 hr 15 minutes
Makes: 12
Ingredients
- 16 large pepperoni slices, divided
- 8 ounces elbow pasta
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ¼ cup (30 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
- 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided
- Torn fresh basil, for serving
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°. Cut a small slit into the center of 12 pepperoni slices. Arrange a slice in each cup of a standard 12-cup muffin tin. Chop remaining 4 slices of pepperoni into small pieces; set aside.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta, stirring occasionally, until al dente according to package directions. Using a ladle, carefully scoop out some pasta cooking water. Pour ½ cup pasta water into a heatproof liquid measuring cup and set aside (discard any extra water you scooped up). Drain pasta in a colander.
- Meanwhile, in another large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour and whisk until golden, about 2 minutes. While whisking, slowly pour in milk. Add cream, oregano and garlic powder; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until liquid is slightly thickened and reduced, about 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Add mozzarella and 1/2 cup Parmesan and stir until cheese is melted.
- Add 2 tablespoons reserved pasta water to cheese sauce and stir to combine. Add pasta and toss to coat, adding more pasta water as necessary to loosen sauce.
- Spoon macaroni mixture into pepperoni cups. Top with about 2 tablespoons Parmesan and reserved chopped pepperoni.
- Bake pizza bits until tops are golden and macaroni feels firm, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Remove cups from tin. Top with basil and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan.
Robert Seixas: As the Senior Food Director for Delish, Rob oversees all cooking/recipe content published on all Delish platforms – digital, video, and print. Rob’s expertise shines as a food critic, and he has appeared on shows such as Food That Built America (Season 5), America’s Most Delish: Midwest Edition, and most recently on Gordon Ramsay’s hit series, Food Stars.
