In elementary school, my friend Emma would sometimes bring banana muffins that her mom made. Her other friends and I would crowd around her, asking for just a little bite and, because Emma was really nice, she would give us some. Once in a while, she would bring extra and we could each have half a muffin! Those muffins would be the highlight of our week. I remember them so well and I always associate banana muffins with Emma and her mom. I also remember the first time I saw blackened bananas in her freezer. I didn't know why someone would keep expired fruit in their freezer... But that's how I found out that it's essential for the bananas to be at least a little brown. Normally, I wait until my bananas are completely black - no yellow whatsoever. However, I was getting tired of having granola every morning and I had some slightly overripe bananas just sitting on my counter.
A year or two ago, I decided that I wanted to recreate Emma's moms muffins. I started off with a basic banana muffin recipe - no good. Too cakey and sticky. So, I modified it. And modified it. And modified it. I changed just about everything in the recipe so much that I didn't even bother looking at the old recipe, I had a new one in my head. As it turns out, they were nothing like Emma's moms muffins. Hers were dense and were just banana, whereas mine are a bit less dense and there's oatmeal and chocolate chunks in there. A couple months ago, I went to Emma's place and saw that her mom had made banana muffins. I had hyped these up in my head ever since elementary school and seeing them again was like seeing a celebrity. I took a bite... and was a bit disappointed. Maybe I had hyped them up too much or maybe I was used to my muffins, but they just weren't as great as I remember. It was a bit heartbreaking to find out that something I had idolized wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but at least I still have my muffins to idolize.
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