Peanut Butter Cookies

lets talk peanut butter. i've been searching for a great PB cookie recipe for years, and so far i have had to fiddle with every single one, disappointing ! well, fiddling is what makes a recipe ones own, since everything has been done before (accept that weird nouvelle cuisine foam flavor stuff? whipped air flavored with kidney and colored with squid ink is not for me, thanks.)
back to my rhapsody, i love peanut butter. sticky, creamy, oily, sweet, gooey peanut butter. i have a friend who belongs to a small cooperative farm here and they grew peanuts for the first time this year. i experienced jimmy carter the peanut farmer as president, he was from the south, where it's warm, i had no inkling they could be grown up here! so next spring i'll try them, if only for a single jar of homegrown and ground goodness!
( but i'll use store bought to bake with.) here's the latest addition :

peanut butter cookies
it helps to have a stand mixer or hand mixer for these. i admit, my kitchen aid professional series stand mixer, at 1 year old, burned out a motor and i have been too lazy, and rather annoyed, to have it fixed (it wasn't under warranty because i make bread in it.. more on that!)
pre heat oven to 350〫 oh, this make quite a good bunch!

12 oz softened butter (3 sticks)
1 1/2 cups peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
3 lg eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 3/4 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
options: peanuts, chocolate chips, maybe crystallized ginger bits ?

in a large bowl, cream the butter, PB,and sugars together until smooth and lighter,add eggs one at a time then vanilla, scrape sides of bowl with a spatula, beat a bit more.
in another bowl mix all the dry ingredients, i use a whisk to totally incorporate.
with a wooden spoon or spatula, stir dry ingredients into wet a little at a time so flour doesn't end up all over. stir until all the dry ingredients are mixed in, add your optional stuff if desired. at this point i separated the batter in half, one was plain (for my husband), the other got 60% cocoa choc.chips (for me and the girls)
refrigerate batter for at least a 1/2 hour, it makes it easier to scoop.
line 2 baking sheets with parchment (I always use parchment)
scoop large spoonfuls, like a soup spoon, of batter on to sheets leaving ample room for them to spread, i got 8 on a sheet (3 rows of 2 scoops and 2 in the center spaces).
bake for 15 min, changing position of baking sheets at about 8 min.. they're done when the edges are browned and centers still a bit soft..or how ever you like them !
*I thought about replacing some of the flour with cocoa powder, for chocolate peanut butter cookies;
if you decide that's what you really want then replace 1/2 cup of flour with good quality cocoa, and increase the sugar by 1/2 cup. then let me know how they are please!