Banana-Almond Muffins

I've been craving muffins again and love creating new versions of old favorites. Muffins have got to be one of the easiest recipes to fool around with and personalize to your own taste. I'd hazard to guess there must be several thousand awesome muffin recipes already out there and several thousand new versions left to create. I decided to make a very low but not entirely gluten-free muffin. I had bought a package of JK fine grain almond flour from Planet Organic recently and was interested in trying it out. I'm a huge almond fan so in addition to the almond flour I also added some freshly ground almonds. They are very moist and of course slightly denser than the average full-flour muffin but I'm loving them so I'll be making them again soon!
p.s. I used tamari flavored almonds so if you see that there is no salt added to this recipe that's why! I suggest adding a bit of salt if you are using unsalted ground almonds.

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup JK fine grain almond flour
1/4 cup ground almonds
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tbsp. ground golden flax
3/4 cup soy milk
3/4 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup organic canola oil

Mix dry ingredients from sugar to cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.  Blend the flax, milk, banana and canola oil together on high speed for about a minute or so.  Stir wet and dry together using fold and turn technique.

Using 1/4 cup measure divide equally into your prepared muffin tin (I am using If you Care liners again as they have been reformulated and are working perfectly - thank goodness).  Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes. Makes 11 muffins.  Good freezer item -- when thawed they are still nice and moist.
p.s. try to buy Cuisine Camino brown sugar -- the flavor is unbeatable and I love the fact that it's organic, fair trade and Canadian.

*Banana-Almond Muffins - original recipe created by Veggie Prairie Girl*