Judy Alday, 43, has a serious sweet tooth.
Photography by Jessica Turner
Photography by Jessica Turner
Photography by Jessica Turner
Her family business, Antojitos Alday, sells sugary confections like fresas con crema (strawberries and fresh cream), cheesecake, tres leches, flan, chocolate-dipped pretzels and hot cocoa bombs, in addition to beverages like aguas frescas and mangonadas.
What are antojitos? Literally translated to “little cravings,” antojitos encompass a wide variety of handheld Mexican street snacks, both savory and sweet. Alday, who leans almost exclusively toward the sweet side, remembers the antojitos of her childhood fondly.
“When I was little, my dad used to take me to Monterrey, Mexico,” Alday says. “That’s where my father was from, and my grandma would take us to places, and they would have all kinds of snacks.”
Originally from southeast Dallas, she raised four kids in our neighborhood and sent most of them through Lake Highlands schools. She still lives in the area and pops up at neighborhood events like Light Up the Highlands, Peep the Coops and Oktoberfest Dallas.
The business started as a partnership between her and her daughter in 2020. They began selling hot cocoa bombs and chocolate-covered strawberries out of her townhouse off Royal Lane under the name vLexxia’s Sweets, a nod to her at-the-time 15-year-old business partner Alexxia. On Christmas Eve, they set up a curbside pickup event for neighbors looking to elevate their Christmas morning hot chocolate. She says the line wrapped around the block.
“I would go inside and get a person’s order, come outside, and there was another car. I’d be like, ‘I’ll be with you in a minute.’ And then I’d give them their order, and then I’d come back. I’m like, ‘What’s your name?’ And then they would tell me, I would run back inside, get the order and bring it out to them. So, we had a line.”
As more and more Lake Highlands neighbors found out about Alday’s sweet business, it grew to pop-ups at events around the neighborhood. In 2024, following the death of her father, she rebranded to Antojitos Alday to reflect her growing menu, encompassing aguas frescas and mini pancakes heaped with sprinkles.
The name has a different pronunciation than what many native English speakers would imagine, which resulted in a happy branding coincidence, she says.
“In English, since people can’t say al-DAH-ee, they automatically just say, ‘All day,’” she says. “So we put it together in Spanish. In English, it’s altogether ‘sweet cravings all day.’”
Antojitos Alday recently began catering for events like weddings, bridal showers and quinceañeras. She’ll often set up mini pancake bars and elote stands, which come in handy as the night wears on and food becomes all the more necessary, she says.
It’s a family business through and through, with her children, sons-in-law and other family members pitching in.
“When I was younger, I didn’t realize how fast (the kids) really grow. Like when people tell you, ‘They grow so fast,’ they really do. And now they’re adults and moved out of the house. We just have one teenager at home, so I try to spend as much time as I can with them. And I feel like that’s what brings us together.”
“I’m making the product. My daughter’s packaging. My son is labeling. My other daughter is helping do something. So we’re all there. We’re spending time together. We’re talking at the same time, and they don’t realize that mom is doing it to spend time with them.”
Dubai chocolate, a nutty milk chocolate variety, has taken over social media in the last year and a half. Taking notice, Alday recently began making a Dubai-inspired variety of her strawberry cups drizzled with melted chocolate and pan-crisped kataifi, a shredded dough of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean origin.
One specialty she is particularly proud of is the Antojitos Alday impossible (not vegan, just a combination that stretches belief for some) cake, which combines vanilla, strawberry or chocolate cake with caramel custard reminiscent of flan.
“Wedding cake is something that I make it with. A lot of people don’t offer it with wedding cake,” she says. “That’s one of our things that we do with wedding cake that makes it a little bit more special.”
Later this year, neighbors can expect Antojitos Alday to make a return to Oktoberfest Dallas and Vector Brewing.
Alday says she would like to expand her business — and her nine-person team — at some point in the future. For now, the family will continue to satisfy cravings all day, every day.
