We’ve all learned that to make the perfect, flaky crust, you need cold butter, cool hands and a resulting dough that must be chilled before it’s baked.

Now, take those techniques that you’ve labored to master all these years — and throw them out the window.

Because here’s a supremely flaky crust that breaks all those rules.

It’s made with boiling hot butter that’s mixed with flour to form a dough that you press — while still warm — into your pan before baking.

How crazy is that?

It’s almost embarrassingly easy and pretty fool-proof. And it produces a crust that would rival any at a fancy patisserie.

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These cookies are fig-tastic.

Oh, they’re not like your familiar Newtons with an abundant filling of sticky fig paste. Nope, instead the dried figs in these cookies are ground up and incorporated into the cookie dough, itself.

As a result, the figs take on a more subtle quality, especially when mixed with ground pecans.

The recipe is from “The Gourmet Cookie Book” (Houghton Mifflin), of which I received a review copy last year. The book features the now defunct magazine’s best cookie recipe of each year from 1941-2009. These “Fig Cookies” hark back to 1964. A true oldie but goodie.

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Still looking for the perfect something for your favorite someone? Here are a few delicious options worth considering, each of which I recently had a chance to sample.

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I don’t know about you, but a gift at this time of year of something precious and sweet, all tied up with a bow in a glass jar is as wonderful as something in a familiar little blue box.

OK, almost as wonderful.

“Honey-Preserved Clementines” could not be easier, either, especially for a can-o-phobe like myself, who admittedly gets a little nervous around water-bath equipment.

But since these jars get stored in the refrigerator, you can skip that sort of, kind of scary step.

This recipe, published in the Dec. 2009/Jan. 2010 issue of Fine Cooking magazine, comes from my friends and prolific cookbook authors, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

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Then, you’ve come to the right place.

Wouldn’t you love to sink your teeth into a meltingly tender Wagyu sirloin from Snake River Farms? Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about — deeply marbled American beef that’s like buttah.

You can. Here’s how:

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a free “Steak and Espresso Brava Salt” holiday package, courtesy of Snake River Farms. Valued at $100, this gourmet gift comes complete with six hand-trimmed, 4-ounce Wagyu petit sirloin steaks, a 4-ounce container of Espresso Brava salt (a mix of sea salt and espresso), and cooking directions.

Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Dec. 17. Winner will be announced Dec. 19. How’s that for a holiday present?

How to win?

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