Cranberry Almond Christmas Cake

Sometimes things don't turn out the way you expected; they turn out better! I started out making a raw vegan Christmas cookie, but when I tossed all of the following ingredients in my food processor, well... the dates hit the blade. I thought my processor was going to flail, lunge and plunge itself from the countertop to the floor before I could punch the pulse button to off. Rather than scrap the whole idea of a holiday treat, I scrapped the idea of it being raw and vegan and folded them into a chocolate batter and baked a fabulous Christmas Cake instead!

The almond extract give the taste sensation that those chunks of dates have the flavor and texture of hydrated dried cherries.

Ingredients: 

2 cup Almonds, in chunks
1 cup Cranberries
1 cup Coconut, shredded
2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
1 tablespoon Almond Extract
3 cups Dates, pitted and coarsely chopped

1 box of gluten-free chocolate Devil's Food Cake Mix (I used Simply Organic brand)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees or according to directions on cake mix
2. Grease 9"x 13" glass baking dish
3. Coarsely chop the pitted dates
4. Put the remaining ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped
5. Combine the chopped mixture and chopped dates in a large bowl
6. Mix the chocolate cake batter according to the directions on box (or make it from scratch)
7. Fold the cake batter into the cranberry mixture until blended
8. Pour the thick chocolate cake batter into the glass baking dish
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.
10. Cool and cut into serving size squares.
11. Serve without topping, or serve with whipped cream... or vanilla ice cream and/or... drizzle a berry chocolate sauce over all... or a dollop of cranberry sauce.... or....

Happy Holidays!