Many people know Jane Wittman as the friendly mother of Fort Worth Country Day student John Wittman ’16, but what people don’t know is her undeniable love for cooking. As the mother of two FWCD graduates and one junior, Wittman has been involved in the Country Day community for a long time. She’s been an active part of the theater department for years, helping Tricia Franks, MS theater teacher, make costumes for musicals. However, Wittman has only been a substitute teacher for about six years. She now substitutes for a range of grades and subjects, and says she sometimes even works everyday of the week.

Commanding a room did not always come easily to her though. Before starting her first day of substituting, which would be for Rex Bozarth’s upper school strings class, she had apprehensions about being responsible for students and decided to cook them treats. This bargaining tactic worked to keep students under control and well behaved, and she has continued to do so over the years.

Though Wittman has always had a passion for cooking, it’s required years of practice and discipline to perfect. She still uses the recipe book she had in high school, but has learned some tips and tricks for substituting in different ingredients over the years. Pretzels are by far her specialty though. They become a family affair to make, as they take a lot of time to prepare.

“I love sharing food and recipes with people because it calms my nerves and keeps me out of trouble,” Wittman said.

Her best advice is to always read the recipe before starting to make sure there are no missing ingredients, and to get creative and go outside of the box if there is something missing. Wittman is sad about her youngest son graduating because she won’t be spending as much time at Country Day, but is excited to continue her family cooking traditions with her granddaughter, Adelaide age three.

Mrs. Wittman’s Snickerdoodle Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of butter/margarine (Sr. Augustine used half butter and half Oleo (AKA: Margarine)
• to have flavor and yet be frugal)
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 ¾ cup flour (I ended up using a bit more-batter was too sticky to handle)
• 2 tsp. cream of tarter
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. sugar mixed with 1 Tbsp. cinnamon (for rolling dough balls)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF. (Yup 400). Cream sugar and butter, add eggs, then all dry ingredients. Roll dough into walnut sized balls.Roll the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar mixture (I made Michael do this part). Place 2” apart on UNGREASED cookie sheet. Bake cookies 8-10 minutes. They will puff then flatten slightly. Makes about 3 dozen.