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1
Find a heat-resistant dish that will fit into your crockpot for the cheesecake. You are going to create a bain marie, or water bath. I used a 1.5 qt Corning Ware dish and it fit nicely into 6qt oval. I tried a round cake pan in a 4 qt round, and that fit too. But I opted for my 6qt, because I'm more comfortable with how it heats.
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2
In a plastic zipper bag, beat the animal crackers into crumbs with a rolling pin. Put a cup of the crumbs into a medium bowl, and add melted butter and brown sugar. Stir until it's wet and crumby. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the dish you are going to use.
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3
In a separate bowl, cream the cheese, sugar, eggs, flour, cream, and vanilla with a hand-mixer. Unless you have one of those fancy Kitchen Aids. Then use that. Pour the cheese mixture on top of the crust. Lick the bowl.
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4
Add 1/2 to 1 cup of water to the bottom of your crockpot. Lower the dish inside, being careful to not slosh water into your cheesecake.
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5
Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours. Check after 1 hour, just in case. The cheesecake is done when the edges are no longer shiny and have set. Touch lightly to see that you don't get a bunch of stuff on your finger---then you know it's done. My cheesecake wasn't perfectly set in the middle, but I unplugged the crock anyhow.
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6
I cooked it for exactly 2 hours. Let the cheesecake sit in the cooling crockpot for an hour, before removing and transferring to the refrigerator. Chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours before cutting and serving.
