Today the idea of a sugar free dessert may be commonplace for those who are on a diet or for those who are not allowed, for medical reasons, to eat sugar.

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Many patisseries, and even restaurants, around the city will offer sugar free options, and we can also make sugar free desserts at home using sweeteners, with Stevia being a popular choice among them.

But this hasn’t always been the case. Many years ago, the creation of a light sweet treat without sugar was a truly innovative idea, that offered the people who couldn’t have sweets the opportunity to start enjoying them regularly, guilt free. Nowadays, the patisseries that specialise in this particular sector of dessert making are not so few, and they offer a wide range of choices, from the classic cakes and pastries to seasonal sweets with no sugar, like melomakarona (traditional Christmas cookie with walnuts and syrup) kourambiedes (traditional Christmas shortbread with almonds and icing sugar) and vasilopita (a cake that families share on New Year’s, with one piece containing a coin, whoever gets it is supposed to have good luck for the year).

Below you’ll find 5 of the most popular and well-known patisseries that offer sugar free options, where you can enjoy delicious desserts without affecting your health and diet as much.

Fysis

One of the first patisseries in Athens to make sugar free desserts, Fysis first opened its Agia Paraskevi store in 2009, founded by two brothers who love clean and organic ingredients that help make a truly unique dessert.

Originally the shop, on 450 Mesogeion street, offered healthy desserts to customers using demerara sugar, omitting the cream, but soon they started making even “lighter” desserts and nowadays at Fysis you’ll find all of your favourite sweets in their version, both sugar and gluten free.

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Photo: Fysis
Photo: Fysis

Following the invaluable advice by the Hellenic Diabetes Federation, but also by the Hellenic Coeliac Society, Nektarios and Giannis Ntalianis remain faithful to their dream to cater to the needs of people who can’t consume sugar, carbohydrates or fat, creating a wide range of sweets for people with allergies and also for gluten and lactose intolerant people.

Of course, at Fysis you’ll find all the favourite Christmas desserts: sugar free chocolate salami, sugar and gluten free melomakarona, sugar and gluten free kourambiedes, and of course vasilopita both sugar and gluten free, while this year there will also be a vegan version of vasilopita.

98 Kifisias Avenue, Marousi, tel. 0030 2114069267

450 Mesogeion Avenue, Agia Paraskevi, tel. 0030 2106090740

More at fysis.gr/ta-glika-mas/epoxika/

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Sugar free melomakarona/Photo:Facebook
Photo:Facebook

Fresh

Saying that the aesthetics of the desserts we choose is a “way of life”, the large patisserie chain Fresh has been making, for many years now, delicious desserts with a French vibe, and packaging already appetizing in its own right. Beautiful and delectable, Fresh’s cakes, pastries and tarts are exploring new paths in patisserie and the result is exceptional. These modern desserts are an ideal present at a friend’s party and a tasty addition to your own dinner.

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Sugar free cake / Photo:Facebook
Reindeer with 0% sugar /Photo:Facebook

This patisserie chain has “expanded” its activities in the production of sugar and gluten free sweets, creating a variety of cakes, sponge cakes, ice creams and chocolates with 0% sugar, a guilt free pleasure that always arrives in attractive packaging. The sugar free orange cake, the perfect cake for the morning coffee, and the double chocolate sugar and gluten free cake both stand out, and of course you should also try the sugar free vasilopita, with the New Year approaching, or a lovely light chocolate reindeer with 0% sugar.

At Fresh patisseries you’ll find theme sweets for any occasion throughout the year, ranging from Easter candy to Halloween while the store decorations change accordingly. Finally, there are also special boxes available with an assortment of sweets and desserts, at great prices, that are the perfect gift for a special day.

More at order-freshpatisserie.gr/

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Sugar free chocolate at Slim Bites/Photo:Facebook
Photo:Facebook

Slim Bites

Today the sweetener stevia is widely used in Greece as well as around the world, but in the beginning of the 2010s things were different. It was then that the architect Eva Toumbi had the idea to create “light” sugar free sweets using stevia instead of sugar. The first store opened in Peania and since then there have opened 5 more franchise stores in other areas in Attica.

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At Slim Bites in front of every dessert you’ll find the number of calories it contains / Photo:Facebook
Photo:Facebook

So, at Slim Bites you’ll find sugar free desserts, as well as gluten free and also vegan creations. That is, Slim Bites is a paradise for anyone with a sweet tooth that needs to follow a special diet but can’t resist the occasional sweet. In fact, in store you’ll find the number of calories of each dessert, ideal for people who want to know exactly how many calories they’re having.

You’ll find a wide range of sweet petit fours and pastries, cookies and original chocolate sandwiches, as well as cakes that have a sugar free interior but are covered in sugar paste, something that the servers will make you aware of.

Vrilissia: 59 Pentelis Avenue, tel. 0030 210 6646716

Neo Psichiko: 9 Solomou str, tel.0030 210 6776764

Nea Erithrea: 373 Kifisias Avenue, tel. 0030 2106254165

Kolonaki: 37 Patriarhou Ioakim, tel. 0030 2107224757

Glyfada: 33-35 Laodikis str, tel.0030 2111196140

More at: slimbites.gr/el/

Katamaya Sweet & Savory

When you enter the large beautiful shop in Faros, Psichiko, you’ll feel as if you’ve entered a colourful children’s birthday party, since in Katayama Sweet & Savory the amazing cakes decorated in all sorts of designs and covered in all colours of the rainbow dominate the space.

And if what you’re looking for is a way to make your child’s birthday cake healthier and “lighter” then you’re definitely in the right place, as all the cakes you’ll see on display can be made sugar free, with just the addition of sugar paste on the outside.

Here you’ll also find many flavours of sugar free ice cream as well as festive melomakarona over which they pour agave syrup instead of sugar syrup, while they also make great coffee. An additional bonus is the few gluten free desserts on offer, that are in fact prepared in a separate workshop to ensure they are totally gluten free.

20 Dim, Vasiliou str, Psichiko, tel. 0030 2106711115

113 Marathonos Avenue, 1 Iroon Politehniou str, Gerakas, tel. 0030 21 0661 2216

More on facebook.com/Katamaya-Sweet-Savory-1622348911396544/

Couel

In 1922, the family of Konstantinos Dimitriou moved to Athens from Aidini, Asia Minor, and started a business that dealt with the production and trade of filo dough and kataifi, gradually including patisserie. And that’s how the Couel patisseries came to be, with the one on 109 Asklipiou and Tsimiski corner being the flagship store, making lovely sweet treats for 40 years now.

They make amazing wrapped treats that are famous throughout Athens, as are their tarts and their small cakes served in glasses.

At the Couel shops you’ll also find many sugar free products: petit fours, cookies, cakes and chocolate mousse, ice creams and panna cotta. In addition, they also make sweets suitable for fasting, as well as various vegan desserts, ranging from cakes to cookies and other healthy treats.

109 Asklipiou and Tsimiski str, Athens, tel.: 0030 21 0360 6220

30 Ippokratous str, Athens, tel. 0030 21 0360 6220

More at www.couel.gr/