The breakfast club

In preparation for holding the first of what I hope will be many vintage tea parties, I bought a book to research precisely how to give one. The book, by Angel Adoree, is a delight: beautifully produced, with pictures of invitations, crockery, style tips... and recipes. Glancing through the brunch section, I found something I had to try.

What follows is something of a cautionary tale. In attempting a fairly simple Chocolate Coconut Granola, I got all a bit arrogant and changed quantities as well as following my own instructions. Don't do this. Miss Adoree's done this before and I will give her recipe verbatim (with one or two things I may have done differently, what I learned and how I'll cook it next time.)

What she advises you use is this: 240 grams of rolled oats; 175g of flaked almonds; 70g shredded unsweetened coconut; 70g dark brown sugar; 40g unsweetened cocoa powder; 90ml honey; 50 ml vegetable oil; 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 3/4 teaspoon of salt.

What I did was to say, "oh, that'll hardly be enough," and promptly doubled the amounts. As I say, don't do this: you'll double some measures but forget to do others; after a while you'll think, "does it really need that much?" You. Will. Get. This. Recipe. Wrong. Just do as the lady says. Which is this:

In a large bowl, mix the oats, almonds, coconut and brown sugar. In another large bowl, mix the cocoa powder, honey, oil, cinnamon and salt. Switch your oven onto 120ºC / 100ºC fan assisted / gas mark 1/2. This may not seem too high, but trust the instructions.

Then combine the two mixtures. This is slightly difficult: you'll be mixing your oat cocktail with a chocolate sauce that has the consistency of crude oil. You'll need to mix and mix so that all the oats are covered. Use your fingers rather than a spoon and wash your hands regularly. Pour onto two baking trays.

Now place the trays in the oven and bake the granola for 1 1/4 hours, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even colour. So doing, you may find that the granola looks and feels quite soft. Again, trust the recipe. On taking it out, the granola will cool and harden, whereupon you could either use the granola to serve up to eight people right there and then, or store for some delicious breakfasts for yourself over the coming week. Just add milk.

Once made (properly), by all means, throw in what you like next time. When I make this again, I may add raisins or more seeds. Either way, now I have this granola recipe I may never buy it from a shop again.