Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Okay, these have been rated "Holy Cow!, "So good," "wow yummy," and "the best thing I've ever eaten." Therefore I think I need to share the wealth. I got this recipe out of the newspaper the other day, but of course being how I am I made some changes. So I'll give you the recipe as printed (well, paraphrased anyway) and then my comments/changes in parentheses (yup, just like this ones here).

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Crust and Topping:
1 cup quick-cooking oats (I used 1/2 cup quick, 1/2 cup old fashioned, you can also use entirely old fashioned)
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
8 Tbsp (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted

Filling:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp instant espresso or instant coffee (okay, eww, I hate coffee. So I used 2 tsp hot chocolate powder. I think you could safely just omit this anyway)
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 egg

Instructions:
Oven 325 degrees, middle rack.

Line 8" square baking pan with foil. Grease the sides and bottom.

Whisk oats, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in melted butter until combined. Reserve 3/4 cup of this mixture for the topping.

Sprinkle remaining oat mixture into prepared pan and press into an even layer covering the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust until a light golden brown, about 8 minutes (I gave it 20 minutes). Let the crust cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour (oh heck no, I gave it 10 minutes, psh!)

For the filling, whisk the flour, sugar, instant espresso/coffee (or hot chocolate powder), and salt together in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, melt the chocolate chips and butter together, stirring often, about 1-3 minutes (I think it took me 1 minute and 15 seconds, check it about every 30 seconds, you do NOT want to overheat chocolate). Let cool slightly (eh, a minute or so). Stir egg into melted chocolate. Stir in flour mixture until just combined.

Spread chocolate filling evenly over the crust and smooth the top. Sprinkle with reserved oat mixture (kinda press it into the chocolate so it really sticks). Bake bars until the topping starts to brown and the filling starts to pul away from the edges, about 25-30 minutes. (I think I gave it at least 40 minutes, but I kinda forgot to write it down at the time).

Let bars cool in the pan, on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Remove bars from the pan using the foil, cut into squares of desired size, and serve (super yummy warm!)