Fudgy Chocolate Marshmallow Truffles

This is difficult. No, not making these truffles, but explaining how to make them. These weren't intended to be truffles, they just ended up being so. A massive kitchen harakiri changed their fate and from what was deemed to be a luscious chocolate mixture for my Chocolate Mousse, they became hard and fudgy truffles. In fact, I wasn't even considering writing a post on it until my friend and fellow blogger A (from Peanuts on the Road) asked for its recipe after looking at the picture. Now these truffles are brilliant, if you like the taste and chewy texture of fudge ie. But the problem in explaining how to make them is that the don't have a recipe. In this case the disaster happened first and as a result of that the truffles came together. You might not face a similar disaster in the kitchen. Would that mean you won't get these truffles then? I really don't know. I'll just try to work my brain and come up with some way out by which you can make these decadent truffles without facing the same scare as I did.

Let me just quickly tell you how I got these truffles so that you know what you need to look out for, or not. Oh God! This is confusing! I was planning to make this Chocolate Mousse, and whenever I try out a new dessert (which is every time) I blindly follow Nigella's recipes, which are the easiest and unbelievably foolproof for beginners. Likewise, when it came to making my Chocolate Mousse, I narrowed down upon her eggless version, substituting marshmallows for the fluffiness. This got me really excited as I had a huge bag of marshmallow lying with me. What I did not give much importance to was that they were already 6 months old. Nigella's fresh, dry marshmallows melted in the pan in a jiffy, but when I put the gas on, all my other ingredients melted into smooth lusciousness except the marshmallows. Now these sugar candies contain gelatin which are made of animal bones and hides and to make matters worse, they started secreting oil to the point that my chocolate and butter mixture along with semi-melted marshmallows had formed clumps and the oil kept on seeping out to form a sharp divide between the two. At this stage I realised that I had to start my mousse afresh, and with eggs this time. But something had to be done with the chocolate mixture. It couldn't have gone to the bin just like that. So I took a muslin cloth, put the chocolate mound in it (by now it had taken the shape of a dough), and strained it with all my might to get rid of the excess oil. I then refrigerated it for 30 odd minutes till the dough was firm enough to handle. And thus the truffles were born.
So here goes the "recipe for disaster", quite literally! Let's just pray your marshmallows don't melt. But if the do, well...make the mousse instead! And if you want only and only these truffles, to be on the safe side, use 6-month old marshmallows! :P

Makes 10 truffles

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped: 250 gm
Butter: 60 gm
Marshmallows: 15-18 medium
Cocoa powder: For coating

Method:

1. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, put the chocolates, marshmallows and butter and turn on the gas to low heat to allow these to gently melt. Stir time and again.

2. The butter will be the first to melt followed by the chocolates and marshmallows. At the point when the marshmallows have partially melted but still have some solidity and texture left, turn off the gas. Mix the semi-solid marshmallows thoroughly with the chocolate till it takes the shape of a dough.

3. Refrigerate the dough for 30-45 minutes or till firm enough to be handled.

4. Sprinkle some cocoa powder on a wide plate. Wet your hands, take a little dollop of the dough, roll it into the shape of a ball and then into the cocoa till coated properly. Repeat with the remaining dough. Refrigerate once done and serve cold.