My search for the perfect scone

In June, 2009, I was fortunate to travel to Scotland and parts of Northwest England for two weeks. During the trip, one item of Scottish cuisine I learned to absolutely love eating was scones (often pronounced ‘skon’ like John there, but ‘skone’ like Joan here).

Since then, I try to order a scone whenever I see them offered for sale at coffee shops, cafes, pastry shops, restaurants, and similar places of business. While my quest has only involved locations in the Great Lakes region to date, I hope to provide periodic updates on my ongoing quest.

Thus far, my search for the perfect scone has led to the following findings:

• Scones come in quite a few shapes and sizes here in the USA, while I recall them being more uniform in both size and shape in Scotland (at least in dining establishments).
• Many skones are round in the U.K. and look quite a bit like biscuits, but here in the states they tend to be somewhat triangular like a piece of pie or rectangular in shape.
• Blueberry scones are my favorite type (see photo above), especially with some sugar baked in or sprinkled on top.
• In my personal opinion, a truly flavorful and tasty scone needs no butter, jelly, or jam as a condiment – they are yummy all by themselves.
• The best scone deal I have found locally in Greater Lansing, are the tasty homemade ones at the Red Cedar Cafe in East Lansing’s Brookfield Plaza. Their blueberry scones are absolutely scrumptious and huge – nearly double the size of the one I got from the Purple Carrot Food Truck and for 50 cents less!
• It is a close contest with the scones from the Red Cedar Cafe, but at this point the best tasting scone I have found  to date is the blueberry-vanilla scone from the Purple Carrot Food Truck here in Greater Lansing. It’s a bit more expensive, but simply delicious and just moist enough for not needing a drink to wash it down.
• My favorite scones found thus far in the Chicago area are from the Brother’s K Coffee House in Evanston. According to their website, they are baked by Sam’s Scones.

So…my perfect scone quest will continue as I travel about.  I am looking forward to updating everyone on this tasty endeavor – it’s tough, but someone’s got to do it. : )