Estimated time:
30-45 minutes, and some time to "set up."

Number of servings:
Variable! I often double the recipe

Ingredients: (Hit your return key to start a new line)
1 stick (1/2 c.) butter

1/2 c. cocoa

2 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

3 c. quick oats

1/2 c. peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Combine butter, cocoa, sugar and milk in a very large saucepan. Simmer and stir until bubbles form around the edge of the saucepan, and the mixture is fairly smooth. Remove from heat.

Add oats, peanut butter, and vanilla. Stir thoroughly.

Drop by rounded Tablespoonful on waxed paper; cool. Store in a container in a cool place; in a refrigerator, if stored for a considerable time.

Other suggestions and comments:
This is a "retro-recipe" of sorts, and made the rounds of neighborhoods in the 60's and 70's. It is easy, cheap, and despite the funny look of them, people do like these cookies! I substituted butter for margarine, and whoa, they are better than Momma used to make!

If you have Old Fashioned oats in the cupboard, vs. Quick, run them thru a blender or food processor Briefly.

I have given these as gifts, first for a "gag gift" exchange, and then this year, we gave a package of these to 9 teachers at my daughter's junior high school. (A double batch was enough to cover that last project.)

We use a very home-style wrapping method, always enclosing the recipe so that people know what they are eating, and so they can make it themselves if they choose, with their kids.

The cookies, when completely cool, can be bagged in zippered plastic bags, and placed w/recipe inside a plain brown lunch bag. Fold the top of the bag down; punch 2 holes thru all thicknesses of the fold (holes about 2 inches apart). Run a bright ribbon/twine/yarn/raffia thru those holes, and tie the package shut in front.

You can also attach hole-punched gift tags before tying. These can be made with outside or inner parts of old Christmas cards, if you like, or with Crayola-drawn pictures of reindeer on index cards.

If you want to get really fancy, there's the classic Reindeer bag look that involves brown construction paper "antlers" shaped like your child's hands, and the drawn or glued-on, pieces-parts like eyes, ears, and Red Nose. Be prepared for an all-afternoon session of decoration for that!

Lastly, I should point out that there's a very similar cookie further up the List, which has cocoa, oats, and Coconut in it...and if memory serves, no peanut butter. Great minds think similarly, as the date it was added is Close! ;-) Try those, too; for some of use, Christmas definitely involves high-octane levels of Chocolate consumption, any and all forms.
(That's why the teacher packages are not tiny, but not Huge, either! They have to Work Out to work off all that chocolate.)