I often like to make scones and mix some raisins into half the batch to make a nice fruity scone.
However often when I lay out my scones and put them in the oven ones at the surface end up being cooked to a hard inedible lump, while the ones inside the scone are nice soft raisins. Short of covering over any raisins that stick out with extra dough, how can I stop these raisins burning?
Since raisins are a type of dried fruit, they don't have a lot of moisture left in them. Heat from baking with just make them drier, eventually resulting in that chewy, not particularly pleasant lump. The internal raisins are more protected from the heat, so they stay the same consistency.
One solution may be to soak the raisins in water, fruit juice, or even wine (boozy scones!) before cooking. The extra liquid will help prevent that drying effect; you'll still have some consistency difference between "outside" and "inside" raisins, but none will be inedible. I soak raisins as well as dried cranberries and cherries before using them in muffins.
