What's up with the flaxmeal muffins???

[Roserae]

Okay, I've been making the recipe called Raspberry Flaxmeal muffins. Here is the recipe

Raspberry Muffins
3 eggs
1 1/2 sticks butter melted
1 c protein powder
3/4 c splenda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp salt
1/2 c water
1/2 c rasberry syrup (like daVinci or torani)
1 c flax seed meal

prehead oven to 350. beat eggs and add melted butter. continue to beat. add (one by one) protein powder, splenda, baking powder, and salt. Beat well. stir in syrup, water and flax seeds. put in greased muffin tin and bake 25 minutes.

I got this recipe off of this site, don't remember when or where, but maybe some of you are familar with it. I have made this recipe at least 4 times now with some simple substitutions (strawberry syrup, and less Splenda). Only once did they turn out "normal". I can't figure it out. Every other time it looks like the egg seperates from the rest and the muffin looks like egg on top with the rest on the bottom and they are very greasy and the batter is very runny. I thought I had the answer to this as I was putting the flaxmeal in before the water and I believe it was soaking up the egg and butter and not the water. This makes sense. The one time it turned out perfectly I put the water in first, so the flax can soak up the water instead of the other ingredients. So, I think I got the problem licked. Well, today I made the muffins again and was VERY careful to add the water first and then flaxmeal. Well, the batter was just as soupy as ever, nothing like the perfect batch I had made previously. The muffins came out again seperated-like, but not as greasy. Still tasty, but still not like I imagine they are supposed to be. Any of this make sense? Anyone have trouble with these muffins....they seems to be very finicky.

[Naja]

Never tried making them, but some possible variables would be these:

The age and effectiveness of your baking powder

How much moisture is in the ingredients on a given day - some things like
protein powder may clump

How well dry ingredients are sifted before adding liquids

If the recipe seems unreliable, mess with it or try a different recipe altogether. I'd try dumping half of a butter stick and replacing it with an equivalent amount of well softened cream cheese to try for some more stability.

[Roserae]

I'd try dumping half of a butter stick and replacing it with an equivalent amount of well softened cream cheese to try for some more stability.

That's a great idea! I'm wondering if its partly my protein powder....it's called Anywhey and it says it is specifically for cooking...now I'm thinking it is specifically for sneaking into cooking (dissolves easier, maybe?) and maybe that makes it worse for cooking when it is supposed to be the main ingredient. The batch that turned out great was made with a different powder (Designer whey) I'm going to try the cream cheese idea, that sounds yummy.

[not2late]

When I make them, I cut the amount of butter to 1 stick and I use softened butter instead of the melted butter. I cream the butter and eggs together, first. Then I sift together the dry ingredients. I add the dry and wet ingredients in an alternating way, trying not to over mix.