Mystery Pecan Pie

This recipe is from Paula’s Home Cooking, although the same recipe is all over the internet. They vary in using light or dark corn syrup, and the baking time & temperature. It’s also called "Alligator Pecan Pie" because the top is lumpy like an alligator. As for the "Mystery," the bottom layer is a cream cheese mixture, then pecans are sprinkled over, and a pecan pie filling is poured over the whole thing. When it bakes, the cream cheese rises to the top.

Paula’s recipe says to bake at 350 for 45 minutes. My pie was still very liquid (although brown) at that time, so I ended up keeping it in for 55 minutes total. It could have gone longer (still jiggly) but it was getting pretty brown. I guess I should have covered it with foil and baked it even more.
My pie was "alligator" was that the custard part was still runny and the pie looked like a swamp after it was cut. Everyone seemed to like it, though.

Two of my all-time favorites are cheesecake and pecan pie, but I think I would rather have one or the other instead of the two combined into one pie like this was. One comment I got was that it wasn’t as sweet as pecan pie, which was a good thing. I thought this would fulfill my cheesecake craving but I guess I’ll have to break down and make the real thing. I went all the way to Florida and didn’t have key lime pie…so I’ll have to search out a key lime cheesecake recipe.