Breakfast breads | Cheap eats

Blueberry muffin from Beverly Bakery (10528 S Western Ave, 773-238-5580; $1.89)
Forget the oversized, streusel-topped muffins of corporate coffee shops. The best are like this one: medium size, soft-crumbed and light on the sugar.

The butter croissant at Julius Meinl (4363 N Lincoln Ave, 773-868-1876; $1.95)
A proper croissant should shatter with one bite, its delicate layers flaking everywhere upon contact. Happily, that’s exactly what this one does, creating the most delicious mess you’ll ever clean up.

Chocolate-chip scones from Hoosier Mama Pie Company (1618 ½ W Chicago Ave, 312-243-4846; $2.50)
Before opening her pie shop earlier this year, Paula Haney was known strictly as a dessert maven. But now that we’ve tasted these crumbly scones, we’re crowning her a master of mornings, too.

Buttermilk doughnuts from Dat Donut (8251 S Cottage Grove Ave, 773-723-1002; 82 cents)
These lightly glazed, slightly tangy cake doughnuts achieve what very few of their kind can: an airiness resembling that of their yeast-risen brethren.

Cinnamon rolls at Ann Sather (909 W Belmont Ave, 773-348-2378; $1.50)
There are certainly more elegant cinnamon rolls in this town. But who’d take “elegant” over “big, soft, aromatic and sweet”?

Sweet milk biscuits at Sweet Maple Café (1339 W Taylor St, 312-243-8908; $1.75)
From the name, it appears that these things are made with milk. Funny—all we tasted was sweet butter.