There used to be a small busy café in Madison WI just off the Capitol, that had amazing scones. They had a lemon cream one that was the best. I talked to the owner one day and she was closing the restaurant to open a company to market ready to bake scones and other things. She recommended a book called Simply Scones which I promptly bought. She said to watch for her products to appear in stores but they never did.
I have made many kinds of scones but have never been able to recapture the taste of these. There is a lemon cream scone in that book too but it does not turn out very lemony. I have tried adding fresh lemon peel, and lemon oil. The latter is the best addition but it is still missing a certain "je ne sais quoi" .
Cream scones are pretty basic...so it's obviously all in the flavoring. I have never been a fan of lemon extract, I think lemon zest can do it all..if you add enough! Perhaps a generous pinch of mace or cardamon or maybe what you remember was an herb like rosemary?
